A first-steps guide to using a light meter with manual flash
A guide to using a light meter with manual flash & ambient light
A question posted on the Tangents forum was on the topic of exactly how to use a light meter to get to correct settings for manual flash. This article covers that first tentative step in what exactly you should do with this brand-new light-meter in your hand. It will help you cope with that initial "what now?" moment. How exactly would you have used the flash meter (with the strobe in manual mode) to arrive at the correct settings to illuminate the model properly without changing your in-camera settings? Values Read more inside...Environmental portraits – Speedway racer
Environmental portraits - Speedway racer, Courtney Lefcourt
When Courtney's mom first contacted me, she told me that Courtney is a race-car driver and that the camera loves her. Intrigued, I met up with her family at the Bethel Motor Speedway for on-location portraits of Courtney. To find out more about Courtney, check out her Facebook page, Courtney Taylor Racing. So the challenge here was two-part. The sun was very bright since it was 3:30pm in the afternoon. The other challenge is that while speedway racing might be an exhilarating sport to watch, the speedway race-track isn't Read more inside...Photography composition – Get down lower for a better perspective
Photography composition - Getting down lower for a better perspective
It's a bit of a cliche perhaps, seeing a photographer on the ground, laying on his side, or sprawled on the ground. What might look like a strange form of attention-seeking, is actually a very solid way of improving your composition with full-length portraits. The lazy temptation is to just stand there, camera to the eye, and take the photograph. What happens then (usually), is that the photographer is shooting down on the subject. The best advice generally, is to step back for full-length compositions. When you Read more inside...Flagging your flash to control back-lighting
Flagging your back-lighting flash with the black foamie thing
My favorite on-camera light modifier, the black foamie thing, is of course, nothing more than a very affordable (and flexible) way to flag your flash. This helps control how the light from your on-camera flash spills. (It's not a flash diffuser!) I also keep one on hand when I use off-camera flash, to flag any direct flash - whether to control it from flaring the lens, or from spilling onto my subject. When I did the photo session for the review of the Canon 600EX-RT, I had to flag the one speedlight so it didn't spill Read more inside...review: Profoto B1 flash
review: Profoto B1 flash
I'm a bit of a fan of Profoto gear. When I first started looking at the more serious on-location lighting systems, my initial purchase was the Profoto 600R. I was drawn by their reputation for reliability and features such as consistent color balance even when you change power settings. The wide variety of light modifiers, as well as the ease of use and setup also had me favor Profoto, even thought it is the more expensive system on the market. Of course, the sleek elegant look of Profoto gear also counted. As far as lighting gear goes, Profoto even looks Read more inside...Controlling off-camera flash with a gridded stripbox / softbox
Controlling off-camera flash with a gridded stripbox / softbox
With this photo session of Carina and Carolina, (yes, they are twins), I decided to start off with a landmark spot in New York - Staple Street. That bridge walkway between the two buildings, and this surprising alley has somehow become a landmark. Yet, it works. That walkway makes a perfect frame at the top of photographs.With the tall buildings in Manhattan, you usually get brighter areas or sky towards the top, or you get more buildings in the background. But here, you get that neat visual border. Nice! Shooting on Read more inside...Flash photography with a grid
Flash photography: using a grid with a speedlight
During this photo session with Austin, I wanted to get a spot-light effect on, similar to that of a video light. Now, I have played around with various speedlight grids before, but never liked the result. Speedlite grids generally they concentrate the light to the extent that the direct light from a speedlight, becomes too concentrated and hard. For dramatic light, I really like the look of a video light, with that dramatic quality to the light, and with more defined shadows. I do want that fall-off in the light as the light spreads Read more inside...Off-camera flash for wedding portraits on the beach
Off-camera flash for wedding portraits on the beach
I had the great pleasure of photographing Sarah and Antonio's wedding in Santa Monica, California. For the romantic portrait, we went down to the beach in the late afternoon. With the pier in the background, and with the sun (even at 5pm) still beating down, the photos were going to look vibrant, with that sun-drenched look. Beautiful. When I posted the photos in an album on Facebook, a number of people asked me about this (and other photos), and how I photographed them. The technique is quite straight-forward, as described in Read more inside...Off-camera flash – Two speedlight setup for back-lighting
Off-camera flash - Two speedlight setup for back-lighting
Once you're comfortable using a single off-camera light-source, such as a softbox (or un-diffused flash), there's an easy next step to add a little bit of zing to the image. Rim-lighting! I most often work with just a single softbox when photographing portraits on location. Having the sun behind your subject, creates a natural rim-lighting. This helps separate your subject from the background. It's not just the shallow depth-of-field that helps create that near-3D effect where your subjects just pops out from the background Read more inside...- « Previous Page
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